A launch platform failure has forced Spacex to postpone a flight to the International Space Station (ISS) that was supposed to pick up two NASA astronauts who have been trapped in orbit for nine months.
The Falcon 9 rocket had four crew members on board when he had to abort the take -off of the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Wednesday.
According POTLand personnel expressed concerns about strong winds, rain and functionality of a critical hydraulic system less than four hours before scheduled takeoff.
The NASA astronaut commander, Anne McClain, the pilot Nichole Ayers, together with the mission specialists, Jaxa (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Astronaut Takuya Onishi and Rosquosmos Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov leave the operations of Neil A. Armstrong and the construction of the construction of Nasa Kennedy of 2025 in Cape, Cape, Florida, Florida, Florida.
Brandon Bell / Getty images
The engineers evaluated the hydraulics used to release one of the two arms holding the rocket to their support structure. This structure should bow back just before takeoff.
The crew on board, which was already fastened in its flight capsule when the problem was identified, has to reach the ISS before Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams can return home after almost a year in space.
The NASA Boeing crew, the flight test commander Butch Wilmore (L) and the Suni Williams pilot, leave the operations and the payment building on May 6, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Astronauts go to the Boeing Starliner spacecraft, which meets an United Alliance Atlas V Rocket launch in the Space launch complex, Boeweing.
Joe Raedle/Getty images
The final decision to cancel the flight came with a remaining hour in the countdown. Later, the authorities confirmed that the launch would be delayed at least on Friday.
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Wilmore and Williams were sent on a one -week mission to the International Space Station last June, but they could not return to Earth when their Boeing Starliner capsule suffered a series of malfunction. In August, NASA considered that the insecure spacecraft to travel, leaving the couple to feel comfortable in the ISS while Spacex prepared a rescue mission.
However, Spacex delayed the launch of its Dragon Crew spacecraft, since it needed additional preparations.
Consequently, NASA chose to send an older capsule, which would be supposed to be launched on Wednesday with the NASA Astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Kirill Peskov on board.
Now the NASA Spacex-10 team is expected to begin its trip to the ISS at 7:03 pm, Eastern time on Friday.
Williams and Wilmore, along with Roscosmos Cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, will leave the space station not before Wednesday, March 19 on the same boat.
– With Reuters and Associated Press files
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